Now that the Governor has initiated the plan to get Indiana back on track all of us are working toward the glorious day when the church gathers together once again. As you begin to do this I have some concerns I would like to share.
- If You Don’t Have A Plan Don’t Proceed.
A plan says you have thought it through. A plan says you have considered the outcome(s) of your actions. There is a myriad of info out there for you to educate yourself on the kinds of things to consider in your plan. Click here to see Ken Braddy’s stuff on restarting.
To help you further in this “Tuesday Topics” will have one of the best “planners” in our state, Bobby Pell of Northwoods Church in Evansville as a guest. Bobby will walk us through his plan for reopening Northwoods. I have learned a lot from listening to Bobby’s journey toward normal operations and I think you will also. Tuesday’s Topic is every Tuesday at 9:30 am. Here is the Zoom link.
- Don’t Fall Into The Devil’s Trap
The Enemy has a plan for this crisis and the plan is to harm the Bride of Christ. Why can I say this? Because he always is working a plan to harm the Bride. Duh.
This is what I think may be the plan now that the virus has abated some. The Government, bless their heart, has given us, the church, more freedom than any to begin gathering. The only limits, it seems, is how many we can fit in our buildings and still do social distancing. Restaurants are limited to 50% of their capacity but not us. We can pack ‘em in like sardines as long as we keep them 6 feet apart (wink wink). Who will know?
And there is the Devil’s trap.
Rush forward. Trust our own judgment instead of the experts. Do what is easy and ignore the rest. Get back to normal!
Do this and the church could very well be blamed for the next round of COVID19 out-breaks and our testimony flushed down the drain.
On the other hand, if we take all of the recommendations seriously and protect the people that attend, we will probably not see many issues. And if we do have issues we will not take the blame for it for we followed or went beyond the recommended guidelines.
- Proceed With Caution
People throw caution to the wind when the gain far outweighs the risk of loss. We have a ton to lose and little to gain by rushing ahead unprepared. The people we shepherd trust us. If we decide to progress to reopening with only the “easy” issues solved, we may watch their trust in us and the church waft away in the spring breeze.
Look, if your church is normal you did a good job with on-line worship. You don’t have to be in such a hurry to return to normal that you risk throwing away what you have gained. Go slowly. Wait until you have covered all of the bases and then proceed.
Remember this is Spiritual Warfare we are in. Our weapons are not of this world. While the Enemy has plans so does the Father. I believe there has been more done to further the Gospel than at any other time in history as the Gospel, preached by so many pastors who never spoke online before, spread like rain across the internet. Keep the Good News the best news and don’t hand over to the Enemy what you have planted and watered by side-stepping what you are not ready to step into.
As always we are here to help. We can’t do it for you but we sure can do it with you. Call me Bob Weeks, 812-592-3755, or email me or John Horn.